Corn-Mother
Totonac · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Totonac (Veracruz). English 'Corn-Mother' leads. The maize divinity is a central Gulf-Coast figure; Ichon records the maize culture-hero cycle (a male maize-child hero who is buried, regenerates, and is reborn among fishes). The Corn-Mother is the maternal maize power; a securely attested distinct Totonac proper name is not given in the consulted sources, so term left empty. Treated as a deity.
Domains
- maize
- fertility and sustenance
- motherhood and the soul
Powers
- bring forth the maize
Epithets
- the Maize Mother The young maize-goddess who gives and guards the sustaining cornAlain Ichon, La religión de los totonacas de la sierra (secondary)
Sources
- Totonac religion centers a maize divinity / maize culture-hero; the Corn-Mother is the maternal maize power that gives the grain, intimately linked with the regenerating maize-child of the myth recorded by Ichon.: Ichon, Alain (1969). La religión de los totonacas de la sierra. México: Instituto Nacional Indigenista. (secondary); Kelly, Isabel & Palerm, Angel (1952). The Tajín Totonac, Part 1. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. (secondary)